1 Samuel 15

1Then Samuel said to Saul, “Yahweh sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel. So now, listen to the words of Yahweh.”

2Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘I have taken note of what Amalek did to Israel, how he opposed him on the way when he came up from Egypt.’

3Now go and strike Amalek, and devote to destruction all that belongs to him. Do not spare him, but put to death from man to woman, from child to nursing infant, from ox to sheep, from camel to donkey.

4So Saul summoned the people and mustered them at Telaim: two hundred thousand foot soldiers, and ten thousand men of Judah.

5Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the wadi.

6Then Saul said to the Kenite, “Go, turn aside, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I sweep you away with them. For you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenite turned aside from among the Amalekites.

7Then Saul struck Amalek, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is opposite Egypt.

8He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, and devoted all the people to destruction with the edge of the sword.

9But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, and the fattened calves, and the lambs, and all that was good, and they were not willing to devote them to destruction. But every despised and worthless thing they devoted to destruction.

10Then the word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying,

11I regret that I made Saul king, because he has turned back from following me and has not carried out my words. And Samuel burned with anger, and he cried out to Yahweh all night.

12Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, and it was reported to Samuel, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, and look, he has set up a monument for himself; then he turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.”

13Then Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you to Yahweh; I have carried out the word of Yahweh.”

14But Samuel said, “Then what is this sound of sheep in my ears, and the sound of cattle that I hear?”

15And Saul said, “They brought them from the Amalekites, because the people spared the best of the sheep and the cattle, in order to sacrifice them to Yahweh your God; but the rest we devoted to destruction.”

16Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop, and I will tell you what Yahweh said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”

17And Samuel said, “Though you were small in your own eyes, were you not the head of the tribes of Israel? And Yahweh anointed you king over Israel.”

18And Yahweh sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go and devote the sinners, the Amalekites, to destruction, and fight against them until they are consumed.’

19Why then did you not obey the voice of Yahweh, but rush upon the spoil and do what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh?

20Saul said to Samuel, “But I did obey the voice of Yahweh, and I went on the way that Yahweh sent me, and I brought Agag king of Amalek, and I devoted Amalek to destruction.”

21But the people took from the spoil sheep and cattle, the best of what had been devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal.

22And Samuel said, “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Look, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.”

23For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and stubbornness is like wickedness and household idols. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has also rejected you from being king.

24Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I transgressed the command of Yahweh and your words, for I feared the people and listened to their voice.”

25Now please forgive my sin, and return with me, so that I may bow down to Yahweh.

26And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

27As Samuel turned to go, he seized the edge of his robe, and it tore.

28And Samuel said to him, “Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today and has given it to your neighbor, who is better than you.”

29Moreover, the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he relent, for he is not a man, that he should relent.

30And he said, “I have sinned. Now please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, so that I may bow down to Yahweh your God.”

31So Samuel went back after Saul, and Saul bowed down to Yahweh.

32Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of Amalek to me.” And Agag came to him trembling, and Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death has turned aside.”

33Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before Yahweh at Gilgal.

34Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.

35And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, for Samuel mourned over Saul. And Yahweh regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.